Review: Between Love and Loathing by Shain Rose

About the Book

For fans of Ana Huang and Mia Sheridan, a scorching enemies to lovers romance about a young woman who agrees to fake date a man she despises for a chance to build her dream bakery.

Fake dating my enemy so I can design my dream bakery should be easy … as long as I don't fall in love with him.

Dominic Hardy might be an award-winning architectural engineer with fancy degrees and considerable accolades, but he doesn’t know a thing about baking. He probably doesn’t even like sugar.

So when my late stepfather’s will states that Dominic Hardy is set to inherit the Pacific Coast Resort he’d painstakingly designed, as long as my bakery can be plopped in the middle of it, it’s no surprise he balks.

Yet, my jaw drops when the will further requires us to mutually approve plans for my bakery’s design.

His stuffy taste will never mix with my whimsical vibe.

But then Dominic comes to me with a proposal I can’t refuse. He’ll give me everything I want in my bakery as long as I agree to one thing.

Fake date him for five months.

Keep his ex away by pretending we’re in love.

Smile and stare into his piercing green eyes at a gala or two.

Maybe share a kiss.

Nothing extreme.

Five months of acting in love when I really loathe him and his filthy mouth.

Even when he’s using it on me.

This should be a cakewalk.

Except there’s a fine line between love and loathing, and I think I’ve made the colossal mistake of blurring it.

Review

Four stars! No doubt, no debate. Four stars! Between Love and Loathing was addicting. And exactly what I needed after falling into a pattern of mid books (Not including Collide by Bal Khabra. I adored that one). Within the first page, I become obsessed with Clara and Dominic. I loved every second of their steamy, complicated, opposite attract love story. Both had depth, and substance. And beautifully flawed. They worked so well together, and it was so exciting to see them grow and reach the conclusion. I finished the book waiting more. And I could find myself rereading this book over and over—just to relive their love story. This was my first Shain Rose book, and I’m upset with myself for not reading more of her books. She’s gold.

Final Thoughts

Between Love and Loathing reminded me why fake dating is one of my favorite tropes. The characters were just good, as was their romance. Clara and Dominic might be opposites, but they work so well together and bring out so much fire out of each other.

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